Opinion Contributor

Tea partiers can learn from mayors

There is an obligation to act when people depend on you, the author writes. | AP Photo

By STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE | 10/6/13 9:25 PM EDT

When tea party Republicans began sweeping into Washington after the 2010 elections, many prided themselves on their lack of government experience. They touted jobs like small-town lawyers and dentists as qualification to take the reins of power.

While politics can always use fresh blood, new ideas and leaders with varied experience, last week’s government shutdown at the hands of tea party extremists underscores the value of having lawmakers with direct government experience — especially at the local level, where there is no time for drawn-out budget battles to stop government from performing its basic duties.

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To be sure, being a dentist or small-town lawyer doesn’t make a person unqualified to govern; I spent years as a public defender before becoming mayor of Baltimore, and those experiences dramatically shaped my outlook on public policy issues. The beauty of a democracy is that government is open to anyone with the desire to serve and lead on the issues of the day. In fact, history is full of examples of exceptional public leaders who spent no time in government before going on to do great things in the best interest of the American people. None other than Abraham Lincoln was a small-town lawyer and spent only a single term in the House of Representatives before going on to serve as one of the most consequential presidents in American history.

But in watching the budget drama unfold in Washington, it’s clear those members of the GOP who came to power without any governing experience would benefit greatly from spending time working at the state and local levels. In local government, there is no Democratic way or Republican way to pick up the trash or perform any of the thousands of other functions mayors are charged with overseeing every day. The only choice you have is to act, because failure means real and immediate consequences for your city. There is little leeway for phony filibusters and choreographed photo ops when snow needs to be removed from city streets, and there is no time for ideology to trump passing a budget when thousands of citizens rely on city-funded clinics or hospitals to receive care. You simply must roll up your sleeves and get the job done.

Is it too much to ask Washington to act the same way? Sadly, Americans have become all too familiar with our elected national leaders reneging on their duties — this time holding the federal government hostage simply to relitigate the outcome of the last presidential election. Americans know their government can and must do more to serve them, which is why public polling predicts the government shutdown is hurting the tea party GOP badly.

And there’s no reason the American people shouldn’t expect more. Hard work — and results — are happening every day at the local level, reinforcing the idea that politicians can come together to get big things done. A recent George Mason University report, for instance, points to Baltimore’s “fiscal resiliency,” crediting “a decades-long tradition of competent and trusted professionals in budgeting and financial administration combined with a political culture where mayors and other elected officials make budgetary and policy choices based on the advice and guidance of those professionals.” This kind of cooperation, along with reforms like the 10-year financial plan my administration recently announced to address a $750 million budget deficit, are enabling Baltimore to come through the worst of the economic crisis with our fund balance intact, lower property taxes and no public safety layoffs.

Here’s the lesson for Congress: Not once has any opponent I’ve sparred with to push through these reforms — from city council members to local unions — ever held city operations hostage until I met their demands. We’ve come to the table with some honest disagreements, but at the end of the day, everyone understands that there is an obligation to act when people depend on you to govern.

Tea party Republicans didn’t get that lesson before arriving in Washington. If they had, we might have avoided a federal shutdown, and Americans throughout the country would be far better off for it.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is mayor of Baltimore and second vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.